Martha Rubell Antiques & Vintage

My Plasco doll house furniture

This is a great old hard plastic doll house kitchen furniture set, in white with the blue bottom, dates from the 1950’s. Set includes a fridge and stove. They are marked “A Plasco Toy Co, Made in USA”.

Plastic became the choice material for American doll house furniture manufacturers, in the 1940’s during World War II. Wood and metal were necessary materials in the war effort and therefore the new process of plastic moulding became more widely integrated into the domestic marketplace. The hard plastic items could be intricately detailed including the maker’s name. Plastic is still being used today because of its durability and its low labor cost of production. Renwal, Ideal, Plasco, and Marx made hard plastic doll house furniture in the 1950s and, as the pieces are usually marked, can be easily identified by the collector.

There have been several standard scales in dolls houses over the years. Children’s toy houses during most of the 20th century were three quarter scale (where 1 foot is represented by 3/4 of an inch), also known as 1:18 (1′ equals 18″), 3/4-scale furniture was most often made from plastic.

For the last century, dolls houses have primarily been the domain of children but their collection and crafting have also fascinated a large number of adults.

By any slim chance do you have the “ranch” style plasco dollhouse that was probably bought at “Sears” around 1955-60? I had one desroyrd in a basement flood in Chicago when I was a young girl. I have “all” the furniture and have it in a “Marx” two-story dollhouse at the present time. I would “LOVE” to get my origunal ranch type back again. Can you help me in anyway? I would so greatly appreciate any leads at all.
Sincerely, Nanci